Beat the wheat and join the gluten-free devotees

1/2

2/2

The sourdough pizza base is oozing with mozzarella and topped with generous servings of spicy pepperoni, parmesan and Parma ham.

I tuck into the doughy base, taking in the lingering flavour of truffle oil. When all the meaty centre has been devoured, I take a breather before dipping the rest of the stonebaked crusts in the remaining oil — washing it all down with a big gulp from a perfectly chilled bottle of Peroni.

This is my perfect meal. But a year ago I discovered I had a gluten intolerance, so this experience has been restricted to my imagination. Pizza is out, likewise bread, beer and numerous other foods that I hadn’t even realised contained gluten.

On the plus side, since giving it up — gluten is not only found in wheat but in rye, barley and oats — I have stopped feeling bloated, puffy or uncomfortable after eating, I am more energised, and, unexpectedly, I have dropped a dress size from a 12 to a 10 without doing anything else. But while I try to focus on the positives, there are still certain foods that I just can’t stop myself lusting after.

At least I can take comfort in knowing I’m not alone. As the number of people diagnosed as coeliac, and people who are just gluten intolerant, increases, more Londoners are going gluten-free out of choice. For coeliacs, not sticking to a gluten-free diet can increase the risk of conditions such as osteoporosis.

“As a lifestyle choice, it’s grown massively. It initially grew because of celebrities talking about it and sportsmen who have been doing it for a long time,” says Sean Stembridge, co-founder of the Live Gluten Free website. “People have started to wake up and take notice because they want to have the same lifestyle.” Indeed, celebrity supporters include New Girl actress Zooey Deschanel, singer Miley Cyrus and tennis star Novak Djokovic. Gwyneth Paltrow has inspired a whole wave of followers of her own thanks to her Goop blog and new gluten-free cookbook, It’s All Good.

Experts say free-from products have seen amazing growth in the past year and the market is now worth £288 million. As a result, eating the diet is getting easier as more companies react to demand. Warburtons and Heinz have started free-from ranges, Domino’s and Pizza Express make gluten-free pizza, while gluten-free brand Genius reports that demand for its bread is increasing by more than 20 per cent year on year. Meanwhile, Selfridges reports that sales of gluten-free products are up by nearly 300 per cent.

I first gave up gluten almost by accident. Having spent a week in Spain eating mainly fresh fish, slivers of delicious meat and vegetables and feeling fantastic, I decided to give myself a diet overhaul. I could not face going back to the post-university diet I had got used to packed with “easy”, cheap meals largely orientating around pasta. I ended up inadvertently avoiding bread and most wheat-based foods, replacing them with the basic components of fruit, vegetables, fish, meat and a little bit of dairy. I felt instantly better. But when I occasionally went back to wheat and other products with gluten in them, I noticed how bad it made me feel. I suffered intense stomach cramps, puffy eyes, and drowsiness. Eventually I gave it up all together.

Having had this adverse reaction, I was told by nutritional therapist Kate Cook, director of The Nutrition Coach on Harley Street, that I might never be able to eat gluten again without feeling discomfort. She says the reason more people are reacting to gluten is twofold. Firstly there is more awareness, but secondly it is unnatural for humans to eat as much wheat as the modern lifestyle demands: “The kind of gluten that we have in our bread and biscuits and all the rest of it is different from what we used to eat years and years ago. Now it’s mainly imported from Canada and it’s highly processed. When we were cave folk it would have been toxic, so it puts strain on the system.”

Giving up wheat has made me realise how wheat-orientated food is. Generally I don’t find it a problem at home because I know what is going into my food, and thankfully my boyfriend is very sympathetic. For lunch I generally eat salads and to get my occasional carb-fix I’ve found that gluten-free pasta isn’t too bad (but it doesn’t work al dente).

To begin with I felt embarrassed asking about gluten-free options in restaurants in case people thought I was being fussy, but since I started my blog WheatOut!, about eating out gluten-free, I feel like I’m asking questions with a purpose and am aware of others in the same position. Luckily, London eateries seem to be cottoning on to the fact that gluten-free is more than a fad, with free-from options on menus across the capital.

Would I recommend others to give up gluten? Cutting back, absolutely. But unless you have to, I would treat total abstention with caution. Because although I don’t believe it’s doing me any harm, and I can’t say I normally miss it, I’d like to be able to indulge in the occasional pizza once in a while.